Grosvenor achieves first ever BREEAM Outstanding rating for a listed building

International development and management company Grosvenor's retrofit project at 119 Ebury Street in London's Belgravia has become the first ever listed residential building to achieve a BREEAM 'Outstanding' rating for its strong environmental credentials.

The former hotel has been redeveloped into three duplex apartments designed from the ground up with a major focus on sustainability. The renovation secured final BREEAM scores of 89.2% and 90% - the highest ever ratings given in a BREEAM Domestic Refurbishment assessment.

The 119 Ebury Street project has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Green Buildings category at edie's 2017 Sustainability Leaders Awards.

The redevelopment has been designed to reduce carbon emissions by more than 75% from the property pre-development, 34 years ahead of the UK's 2050 national emissions reduction target of 80%.

Director of refurbishment & retrofit at Grosvenor Britain & Ireland Victoria Herring told edie: “Meaningful carbon reduction is a huge challenge for Grosvenor, the wider property industry and the country as a whole. 119 Ebury Street provides an example that we can apply across our estate and that others can learn from too.

“We believe 119 Ebury Street sets the standard for what is possible in a heritage context. With sensitive design, we’ve shown that innovative low-carbon solutions can be combined with an historic fabric. The heritage of older buildings can remain protected whilst providing a modern, environmentally conscious way of living.

“The project is the culmination of three years of hard work and commitment by the team. We’re very proud to have followed the 'Outstanding' certification awarded to 119 Ebury Street at design stage with this validation of our efforts.”

Sustainable heritage

Grosvenor collaborated with Westminster City Council and Historic England for the redevelopment. The site was chosen to investigate how listed heritage buildings can be made more sustainable. Over the next two years, the performance of the building will be monitored and compared with a neighbouring property using real-time data to gauge the success of the project.

The 119 Ebury Street project forms a part of Grosvenor’s sustainability drive under which it aims to cut emissions across its London properties by 50% by 2030. Ebury Street is a crucial project for the future of this initiative and its high ratings and results could influence similar retrofits across 25% of Grosvenor’s London properties that are also listed.

But this isn’t the first grade-listed sustainable retrofit project managed by Grosvenor. Last year, the development and management firm retrofit three rental properties - one in Mayfair and two in Belgravia - which went on to become London’s first ever rental properties to achieve the highly regarded EnerPHit Passivhaus accolade.